Alfred Edward Housman in his poem “Be still, my soul, be still” asks the readers to search through their own souls in order to find love and experiencing the feeling of love deep in the heart.
The poet further says that it is easy to understand the feeling of Love but it is hard to explain the feeling to someone else especially to someone who has not experienced the feeling before. The man in the poem is deeply broken because he feels that on the Earth the human beings have to grin before they die and meet Jesus.
The poem is deeply negative because the poet explains that since an individual is born on Earth, he or she has to experience pain till the moment they die and reach the house of God. The poet fails to address the fact that even though pain is present in the life of each and every human being still love dominates and the feeling of pain withers away as soon as an individual becomes acquainted with the feelings of love.
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The poet further points out that patience are extremely essential for all the individuals if they wish to live a smooth and peaceful life. The poet stresses on the fact that hatred, jealousy, scorn and horror dominates the world and world is not a beautiful place to live in. the critics point out that the way in which the world and living in the world is depicted in the poem will only lead the readers to feel sad and depressed when they read it.
A person who is in a happy state will be forced to think that is staying happy normal because he or she will start feeling that they should remain unhappy because the world is a bitter place. Yes it is true that pain is an inevitable part of an individual’s life but the light of happiness immerses the darkness of pain within itself. It is to be remembered that at the end of the day love and happiness prevails in the world. The poet champions the cause of secular humanism in the poem. He asks his soul to remain still because it has to face all the horrors and pain that the world has to offer to each and every individual.
According to the pet, patience is the key to everything and it is essential to have patience in one’s heart. It is impossible to bear the pain or any other difficulty of life without having enough patience.
The poet is in deep pain when he writes the poem and this fact is depicted when he says “I slept and saw not, tears fell down, I did not mourn.” Here the patience and strength of the poet himself is revealed because he says that despite being in pain he is not mourning. It is this patience that Housman expects from everyone around.